As I’m ramping up towards some more challenging custom jobs, both involving detailing and full-on repaints, I thought I’d take a break from buying more premium metal and get a few cheapies to use as trainers.

The headline here is the Fiat. It’s absolutely hideous. But that’s a good thing! This way, I can thrash the little guy without feeling a modicum of regret. It also has no detailing whatsoever on the front and back, with very little contour to work with, so it’ll be good practice for when I detail my Modern Classics M3.

Odds are I’ll practice on it now, but wind up drilling it and doing a full repaint. It’s basically my new rental car.

(Curiously, it doesn’t have the XXX/365 on top of the card. But it’s not the $uper, which is copper. If destroying this thing is a bad idea, let me know. I won’t be getting to it for a little while.)

I know the Maverick is a legendary Detroit flop, but the model here looks really nice, and I want to practice detailing the headlights and front bumper. I also just love that shade of blue, which is why I got it on my Accord, which according to the Maverick’s card beats the Ford by some 40BHP. My God how far we’ve come.

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The Superbee is just pure indulgence. I love the way it looks. But even still I want to try blacking in the grille between the headlights with a sharpie, then rubbing it with a bit of acetone to try to clean up the raised bits while leaving some ink down in between the lines. It also needs tail lights, so it’s another chance to test out my new red paint pen.

So far I’ve had success with a Batmobile, the CSL, and the shark mouth on the 917LH. The Civic was a bit of a mess. Time to stop getting precious about it and start getting my hands dirty.